Internal marketing is the need of the hour. With customers becoming very choosy for the type of products that they buy, customer experience with the company needs to be beyond expectations. This is where internal marketing plays an important role. Internal marketing happens when the company treats its employees as internal customers, and accordingly, each department works in tandem with the other to give products and results which are best for the company as well as for the customer.
Internal marketing ensures that all employees are working towards a common cause which is customer satisfaction. Top management plays a crucial role in this regards. Dissemination of internal marketing principles can be done through training right from the time of hiring of employees. Internal marketing can thrive in an organization only if the employees have the right attitude.
Example of Internal marketing
Let us take a perfect example of internal marketing from a company like LG. LG is one of the leading consumer durable brands in the market. The company has various products which are developed and marketed regularly. However, internal marketing is mandatory for a company like LG. The marketing and sales department need to work together with accounting and finance as well as with logistics and supply chain to ensure that the right product is delivered at the right time and the right cost to the customer.
When implementing internal marketing, the concentration on internal customers is equal to external customers. Just like marketing communications are carried out for external customers, internal departmental communication needs to be carried out for internal marketing. Off course, having an organizational communication software helps in promoting internal marketing.
Other things which can help in the propagation of internal marketing are building the right culture and promoting the correct values in the organization. Implementing this is not as easy as it sounds. Culture and value are two long term intangible assets which can be built with the help of HR as well as with senior management.
Along with regular cultural trainings, standard operating procedures will help interdepartmental cooperation thereby providing means of achieving internal marketing. 2 way communication and HR initiatives like 360 degree feedback will help develop more inter connected activities thereby improving morale.
The major challenge for internal marketing is the presence of the right communication mechanism. Imagine a scenario wherein different departments need to interact to complete a project, but there is no communication mechanism in place and neither is the interaction being promoted by the senior managers. In this case, there will be several last minute decisions which will need to be taken, and these decisions can fail because of the lack of co-ordination. Thus having a mechanism which promotes internal communications is most important for internal marketing.
